Chemical-free water processing provides a popular alternative to environmentally undesirable chemical based treating. Conventional non-chemical techniques typically focus on ways of directly affecting constituents suspended in the water. By directly affecting the constituents, such as particles or other forms of contaminants, the colloidal relationships between respective particles may be altered. This often causes an overall coagulation, agglomeration or other condition allowing for the straightforward separation of the constituents from the water.
One form of direct particle manipulation is disclosed by Miller in U.S. Pat. No. 4,279,743. Commonly referred to as an air sparged hydrocyclone, the disclosed device typically utilizes a combination of centrifugal force and air sparging to remove hydrophobic particles from a fluid stream. The stream is fed under pressure into a cylindrical chamber having a porous wall. The inlet into the chamber is configured to direct the fluid stream into a generally spiral path along the wall. The angular momentum of the fluid generates a radially directed centrifugal force related to the fluid velocity and the radius of the circular path. The porous wall is contained within a gas plenum having gas pressurized to permeate the porous wall and overcome the centrifugal force acting on the fluid.
In operation, the unit receives and discharges the rapidly circulating solution while the air permeates through the porous wall. Air bubbles that emit from the wall are sheared into the fluid stream from the fluid flow. Micro-bubbles formed from the shearing attract the hydrophobic particles and float them toward the cylinder as a froth in a vortex. The centrally located froth vortex is then captured and exited from the cylinder.
Another form of direct particle manipulation is disclosed by Duczmal in U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,604. The treatment unit is similar in most respects to the Miller device by incorporating an air sparged hydrocyclone, but additionally employs a cylindrical permanent magnet disposed centrally around the cylinder. The magnet generates a static magnetic field directed radially inwardly towards the fluid stream and having a static magnetic flux sufficient to attract or repulse relatively large ferromagnetic and non-ferromagnetic particles, respectively, during the centrifugal separating operation.
While direct particle manipulation schemes work well for their particular applications, they tend to be particle specific. As a result, the mechanical and magnetic forces required to directly affect the particles must often be tailored to one form of particle treatment. Moreover, in the case of Duczmal, the permanent magnet is of a design suitable for generating only static magnetic fields that directly affect only relatively large particles. Unfortunately, static magnetic fields have been shown to offer only small performance enhancements as a complement to the normal operation of the air sparged hydrocyclone.
In an effort to solve the problems involved in water treatments that directly affect suspended constituents, the inventors have disclosed a unique treatment device and method in U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,723, and pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/695,039, filed Aug. 9, 1996, and entitled "System For Delivering Electromagnetic Energy into a Solution", both of which are assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The treatment apparatus and method directly affects the water structure at the intermolecular level in a deliberate and controlled manner. This causes an indirect manipulation of the suspended constituents as the molecular water structure varies.
One problem commonly shared by conventional direct particle manipulation techniques and water structure modification methods involves the inability to successfully integrate more than one mode of treatment in a single environment. Multiple treatment modes are often necessary when the water suspends several forms of constituents, requiring more than one technology to efficiently treat the water. Conventionally, however, applying multiple treatment modes involves separately treating individual batches of water with individual treatment units acting non-cohesively in separate environments.
What is needed and heretofore unavailable is a multi-modal system and method having the capability of monitoring and controlling water treatment with technologies that directly and indirectly affect constituents in a single environment. The system and method of the present invention satisfy these needs.